Obama Election Watch

This Friday’s presidential debate on foreign policy is a major opportunity for Barack Obama to convince the American people that he is the most reliable and qualified candidate to lead the foreign policy of the United States.

Right now many voters think that John McCain is better equipped than Obama to conduct America’s foreign policy. But in fact, on foreign matters, McCain is embarrassingly uninformed. For example, McCain has repeatedly referred to the nation of Czechoslovakia, which hasn’t existed since 1993. He has called Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin the president of Germany. He has talked about hostilities along the Iraq/Pakistan border, where no such border exists. He referred to the crisis in Darfur as being in Somalia when in fact it is in Sudan. In a visit to Iraq earlier this year McCain confused Sunnis and Shiites.

The bigger question is: How can Obama show his superior wisdom and competence on foreign policy?

OEW has enlisted the opinion of one of America’s most distinguished foreign policy experts, whose identity we won’t name. Here is our counsel’s suggested reply to the expected question as to how Obama should respond when he is asked whether he or John McCain is better qualified to oversee the foreign policy of our country:

“Look at what the candidates have said about the major issues of the day and judge for yourself who has the judgment to lead America in war and peace. I said don’t get into the Iraq war in the first place. McCain said fight. I said let’s start turning this war over to the Iraqis. McCain said it should remain an American war for the indefinite future.

“I say we need a two-track approach with Iran: Keep our military options on the table, but don’t keep waving a stick around that makes the world think we’re the crazy ones. McCain wants to continue the same policy of making military threats that failed with Bush for seven years. And, if that fails, he promises war. I promise our best shot, based on superior power, at an overall peaceful settlement with Iran, like the one Bush reached with Libya.”

In the upcoming debate and on the campaign trail, Obama must show voters a wide knowledge of the complex issues involved in U.S. foreign policy. He must show that unlike McCain, he is well educated and sharply focused on policy issues. He must make it clear that he has sat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the past four years where he has gained wide-ranging knowledge on all aspects of U.S. international policy. Finally, he can point to Joe Biden as a member of his team who has a long history of foreign policy expertise. Obama can also point to his strong foreign policy team that holds views totally opposed to the ill-considered policies that brought the nation into an unnecessary war in Iraq.

Obama can learn a lesson from his disappointing performance at the Saddleback Civil Forum this past August. In this Friday’s and subsequent debates, Obama needs to give clear, crisp, and responsive answers. He needs to avoid philosophical speculating and meandering discussions of complex issues that will add to the public impressions that he is elitist or an ineffective intellectual.

Finally, when the McCain forces question Obama’s experience in foreign policy, the Obama campaign can always point to McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee. In making this choice, it is obvious that for McCain, the quality of experience in foreign policy is not a requisite for the vice presidency.

If elected vice president, Palin would stand a heartbeat away from the leadership of the Free World. This is in contrast to Joe Biden, who is considered, on both sides of the political aisle, as one of the nation’s leading experts on foreign policy. Certainly, he leads the Senate in this qualification.